My take: It’s hard to argue against that list. I believe Colorado warrants a list of at least 15 public/daily-fee courses (Arizona has 25). For my next five, in no particular order, I’d include some of my favorites: The Ridge at Castle Pines North (Castle Rock); The Heritage at Westmoor (Westminster); Fossil Trace (Golden); Walking Stick (Pueblo); and Raven at Three Peaks (Silverthorne).

COLORADO SPRINGS – If The Broadmoor’s East Course avoids heavy rains and remains fast and firm, even par for 72 holes would be a “great score” for the 66th U.S. Women’s Open Championship, USGA executive director Mike Davis said prior to Thursday’s opening round.

“But if we get some of these thunderstorms that we might get, and it softens the course a little bit and it’s not windy, I could see somebody going under par,” added Davis, the USGA’s course set-up man prior to being promoted to executive director earlier this year.
At 7,047 yards, the East Course will be the longest course for a women’s tour event. By comparison, the East Course was set at about 6,400cq yards in 1995 when Annika Sorenstam won the U.S. Open for her first tour victory.

That doesn’t mean it will favor the big hitters, Davis cautioned.

“I say, here, when you look at it on paper, you almost think it’s going to be somebody that hits the ball long and high, because you look at that yardage,” Davis said. “But I don’t think length this week is really going to be the story. I think it will be the player that really thinks her way around the golf course and knows where to miss it and knows when to be aggressive.”

As the saying goes, “Drive for show, putt for dough.”

“You still have to go back to talking about the greens here,” Davis said. “You’re never going to win a U.S. Open if you’re not putting well. I don’t think we’ve ever seen that. But here, not only do you have to putt well, but you have to read the putts exceptionally well. You can’t let your eyes tell you something that simply is not there, because of the effect of (sloping away from) the mountain.”

“So I would say this is going to be a very cerebral U.S. Open. You’re not going to see somebody overpower the golf course.”

COLORADO SPRINGS — Annika Sorenstam said Wednesday she is enjoying her role as honorary chairman of the 66th U.S. Women’s Open and has no plans to return to competitive golf.

Sorenstam, 40, retired from the LPGA Tour following the 2008 season. Winner of 72 LPGA events, the Hall of Famer has become a mother and runs her own golf academy in the Orlando, Fla.

“Once I made a decision to step away, you know, I stepped away,” Sorenstam said. “I practice very little; I play very little. I think what really keeps me in the game in is because of all the interests I have. I do a lot with the golf academy, coming to events like this, designing golf courses.

“… I’m still involved in the game. I’m part of the advisory board for the LPGA. It’s golf every day, I just don’t play it. I think that’s kind of where I get my golf fix. I feel I can help the game grow in different ways.

“… I’ve taken my competitive drive in a different area. I’ve very competitive in the business world. With the economy, I can’t think of a tougher time to jump into the business world with differnet ventures that I have. So I get my competitive fix there.”

COLORADO SPRINGS — Speaking Wednesday during a scheduled USGA news conference, Ben Kimball, the director for the 66th U.S. Women’s Open, talked about the 7,047-yard setup of The Broadmoor’s East Course.

Kimball said feedback from players has been about what he would expect for a U.S. Open setup, which includes thick rough and slick greens.

“There are certain things that we’re going to agree with; there are certain things we’re going to disagree with,” Kimball said. “Being our national championship, obviously we want to make sure that there is the ultimate test.

“…We want to make sure that even though everywhere you go you’re going to hear a little complaining or whining about certain things out there, I think the setup is very fair.

“…(The players) realize that this is the U.S. Women’s Open, and they’ve got quite the test, the battle, in front of them.”

COLORADO SPRINGS – Betsy King, who at age 55 is the oldest player in the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open, has not played a regular LPGA Tour event in six years.

So what has she being doing with her life?

Plenty. King is involved in several humanitarian efforts, including helping to build houses in Africa with her Christian fellowship group.

“It’s life changing,” she said Tuesday.

Taking along some other LPGA players and in partnership with World Vision and Habitat for Humanity, King is currently involved in building 45 houses for AIDS orphans in Lisutu, Malawi.

“It’s completely surrounded by South Africa and has the third highest HIV-AIDS rate in the world,” King explained. “About a quarter of the population is infected. Because they don’t have access to drugs like we do here, there are a number of children that have lost one or both parents to the disease.

“So a lot of these homes will be going to children that are either living with older siblings or being raised by their grandparents, or maybe they’re the head of the household at age 10 or 12.”

“I know things aren’t easy in the U.S. (with the economy),” she added, “but we just don’t know what it’s like to live in a Third World country.”

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.